The Path to Love
by Tanniri
Summary: Set directly after episode Salvage.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1; Shards

Jaime slowly stood and with Superboy's help he started limping back to sphere. He noticed something shiny on the ground as he was passing the destroyed wall to the nuclear plant. He stopped, forcing Superboy to stop too, and turned to look at it. It was a shard of crystal with streaks of gold metal down one side.

He bent down and picked it up. It was about two inches in diameter at its widest point and about six inches long, it tapered off to sharp points on both ends. He stood holding it with one arm slung over Superboy's shoulders and he just stared at it. His mind flashed back to the moment the Appellaxian golem had died. They had been connected, he had felt it and himself die.

His hand tightened around the shard, he took a steadying breath and turned to look up at Superboy with sad eyes.

"Have you ever felt what it is to die?" he asked softly. Superboy's eyes darkened as he looked down at him.

"Yes, I have known what it is to die." he murmured. He closed his eyes and shuddered slightly as he remembered the day from five years ago, of the horrible training exercise that had gone horribly wrong.

That statement made Jaime realize how little he really knew about Superboy and how much he wanted to know more about the tall brooding dark haired boy who only spoke to Nightwing and Mal outside of missions. All he knew was that he lived at the mountain and was related to Superman.

"What happened ese?" he asked with genuine curiosity.

"I'll tell you another time, now we need to get you home." Superboy said gruffly.

Sphere morphed into the super cycle and Superboy lifted him and gently placed him in the backseat. Jaime let out a slow sigh and allowed his eyes to close and he drifted off to sleep, his hand holding the crystal shard close to his chest.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2 ; Med Bay Bonding

When he opened his eyes he was staring not at his bedroom ceiling, but at rock hanging over his head.

He went to move and became aware that he was no longer holding the shard. He sat up and saw he was in somebody's bedroom. He saw Superboy sitting in a chair in the corner, his eyes were closed and his chin was resting on his chest.

The Scarab retracted the armor from around him and he looked at the alarm clock on the bedside table and saw that it was 4:45, he then checked his watch. With horror he saw that it was 9:45 at home. He leapt to his feet with panic and fell over due to the sheets wrapped around his ankles. He landed with a loud thud, waking Superboy.

"I'm late for school! My Mamá is going to mátame!" he shouted.

'It is pointless to panic: you do not have to attend school today, regardless; you are still injured from the fight with the Appellaxian.' The scarab unhelpfully replied.

"what'd you mean I don't have to go to school today? It's Thursday" he replied exasperatedly as he stood and hobbled for the door. Damn, his leg still hurt.

Superboy stood and grabbed his shoulder before he could run out of the room.

"Blue! You've been out for two days, it's Saturday." He said firmly.

Two days! He hadn't been home for two days? Mamá was so going to kill him.

"Why didn't you take me home? Máma is probably going spare looking for me." He told Superboy.

"Well I didn't know where you lived, yes I could have found out, but, the scarab wouldn't retract your armor and I didn't know if your family knew about your second life." Superboy said reasonably.

"Oh, that makes sense. Where are we, why aren't I in the med bay?" he questioned.

"My room, didn't want to worry the others and I couldn't check you over while you were wearing your armor. Should do that now." Superboy responded, and without warning grabbed the fifteen-year old and swung him over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. He squeaked in surprise, not that he would admit it later.

As Superboy opened his door and started to walk down the hall towards the med bay he began to struggle in an attempt to get down.

"Por favor put me down, I can walk on my own." he pleaded. What if somebody saw him being carried like a three-year old, he'd never live it down.

"I know, but your leg is hurt and it's faster this way. Besides it's four in the morning, so the only other person here is Red Tornado."Superboy said. He could feel the words rumble through Superboy's back. He sighed in defeat, they were almost to the med bay anyways.

Superboy set him on a med table and turned to the cabinet to get the necessary medical supplies.

"Shirt off." he said bluntly. Jaime felt his face heat up.

"What?" he asked, and immediately felt stupid for asking. It was standard protocol to check someone for broken ribs. He removed his shirt and as he was pulling it over his head he felt his ribs protest angrily, with a groan of pain he finished removing it.

"¡ay! That hurt." he hissed.

'Of course it hurt. Three cracked ribs and a severally twisted ankle are bound to cause pain.' the scarab unhelpfully replied again.

"What hurts?" Superboy asked with concern.

"My ribs, the scarab says that three of them are cracked and that my ankle is badly twisted." he said. Superboy gently grabbed his elbow and lifted his arm so he could properly see the heavy bruising on said ribs, he grabbed the gauze and carefully began wrapping Jaime's torso starting at the bottom of his ribcage and working upwards. As he was working his hand brushed against the scarab and Jaime twitched. Superboy immediately stopped and looked at his face.

"Sorry, did I hurt you?" Superboy apologized.

"No, no. Actually it tickled." He said looking down, his cheeks flaming.

"Oh." was the only reply he got.

As soon as Superboy finished with his ribs, he moved on to his ankle. Carefully removing his shoe and sock, and rolling up his pants leg. He winced at the swollen red injury.

"Ow, that must hurt." Superboy said with sympathy as he began to bandage it too. Jaime let him finish in silence. Once he finished he helped Jaime to his feet.

"Thanks Superboy I-"

"Conner." Superboy cut him off.

"What?" he asked in complete confusion.

"Conner, my name is Conner." Su-Conner supplied again.

"Oh, my name's Jaime." he stuck out his hand as he gave his real name. Conner gently took his hand and shook it. As he let go Conner looked like he had just remembered something, he reached into his pocket and pulled out the shard of crystal and held it out to him.

"Here, thought you might want this back." Conner said with a small smile. Jaime took it slowly from his hand.

"Thank you Conner." he said, looking up at the taller boy's face. Dark brown, almost black, eyes met crystalline blue and a new bond was created.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3 ; Saved, from an angry mother

"You didn't have to come." he quietly whispered to Conner as they walked up the path to his front door.

"It's fine, and I am your alibi so I kind of have to be here." Conner whispered back just as quietly.

"I'm honestly surprised that she hasn't called the cops yet." he muttered as his hand tightened around the crystal before he slid it in his pocket.

He took a deep breath and pulled his key out of his other pocket and unlocked the door. Once it had opened he saw his mamá standing in the entry hall, arms folded, eyes narrowed in a glare.

"Jaime Reyes! Where have you been?" She demanded firmly as Jaime cringed away. Conner stepped forward.

"He was with me." Conner stated bluntly.

"And you are who exactly?" she demanded still angry. Conner extended his hand.

"Conner Kent." he said politely.

"And why was my son-" Jaime's mother started.

"Jaime, your home!" shrieked a young voice, as owner of said voice leaped for him.

'Suggestion: do not attempt to catch 'the little sister', it will have unfortunate side effects.' The scarab warned. Jaime ignored it and caught his little sister.

In hindsight, that hadn't been the best idea he'd ever had. The moment her weight settled into his arms, his ribs screamed in agony and he was forced to his knees with a sharp cry of pain. He released his sister and clutched at his ribs and breathed through his nose in an attempt not to throw up. He felt Conner kneel next to him and place a gentle hand on his back just below the scarab.

"You ok?" Conner asked quietly. The same moment his mama knelt down and placed her hands on his shoulders.

"Jaime, what's wrong, are you alright?" Concern lacing her voice, her previous anger forgotten.

"I'm alright mamá, it's just a few cracked ribs." he hissed through his teeth in an attempt to calm her, it didn't work.

"Just a few cracked ribs! We need to get you to the hospital."

She said with slight panic. Her gaze landed on Conner and her eyes narrowed.

"And how exactly did my son go missing for two days and come home with three cracked ribs while with you?" she questioned Conner accusingly.

"I was climbing a boulder and I fell mamá. He was the one helped me, I was knocked out when I fell." he said trying to calm her fury towards Conner.

"Well why didn't Conner bring you home as soon as you woke up?" she demanded.

"He did mamá, I just woke up this morning." he defended Conner.

"He probably saved my life, he even bandaged my ribs, see." as he said this, he lifted the edge of his shirt and showed the medical bandage wrapped around his torso in a professional manner. He also lifted the hem of his pants leg, showing her the bandaging around his ankle.

His mama turned to look at Conner, regarding him with new eyes. She stood simultaneously scooping his sister up in her arms.

"Why don't you two wait outside. Jaime, your father will be home soon anyways." she stated looking straight at him before turning and disappearing into the house. He felt himself shrink slightly at the mention of his father.

"You should call Ty, he's been really worried about you." his sister added before they vanished.

He felt his face drain of color, he had completely forgotten about Ty. At that exact moment his phone went off, he pulled it out of his pocket and checked the caller I.D. It was Ty. He answered it.

"Ty?" He asked. Conner, with his super hearing could hear the whole conversation.

"Jaime? Where the Hell have you been, you can't just go and disappear for two days!" Ty exclaimed in false anger, the relief was obvious in his voice.

"I'm sorry Ty. I've been unconscious for two days, I only came to this morning." he apologized.

"What happened?" Ty asked with deep concern.

"I fell and knocked myself out." Jaime explained.

"Where are you now?" Ty asked.

"I'm at home." he answered.

"Ok, good. I was headed there anyways. I'll see you soon." Ty said.

"Wait, Ty-" Jaime cut off as the call disconnected.

Conner heard the sound of a skateboard coming up the street and two minutes later a boy, who he assumed was Ty, jumped off of his skateboard and sprinted up the path. When he reached the house he didn't slow down.

'Incoming attack: avoid 'the Ty' or the outcome will be unfortunate' he stupidly ignored the scarab, again.

Ty slammed into him full force, enveloping him in a bone-crushing hug and for the second time that day his ribs felt like he was being stabbed. He screamed in agony and Ty immediately released him and he sank to his knees again. This time the urge to retch was too great and he coughed up bile on the front porch.

'I told you that the outcome would be unfortunate' mocked the scarab.

"Jaime! What's wrong?" Ty asked, not certain of what he had done. Conner had knelt down again and was gently rubbing his back, avoiding touching the scarab. Ty looked at Conner suspiciously.

"And you are?" Ty asked.

"Conner and you probably just damaged his ribs even more." Conner replied with insensitive bluntness.

"What's wrong with his ribs?" Ty asked.

"Three cracked, five with severe bruising." Conner said bluntly as he helped Jaime sit upright.

"Can you lift your arm?" Conner asked him softly.

"Yeah, I think I can, it really hurts though." He hissed through his teeth. He lifted his arm carefully and Conner pulled up the edge of his shirt and gently UN bandaging his ribs. Ty gasped at the sight of the mass of dark blue and purple bruising. Conner's eyes widened as he saw that his skin had split across the bruises.

"Damn, he needs stitches." Conner muttered as he pulled his stealth comm., it looked like an ordinary phone, out of his pocket and dialed Nightwing. He watched as Jaime's eyes glaze over and he swayed slightly, he blinked slowly as he looked at Conner.

"Conner?" He asked weakly before his eyes rolled back and he slumped forwards and everything went black.

_Conner P.O.V._

He watched Jaime out of the corner of his eye as he listened to the comm. ring as he waited for Nightwing to pick up. He heard Jaime say his name and feint just as Nightwing answered.

"Nightwing here, what's the problem Superboy?" Nightwing asked.

"Wing, we have a situation down here, it's Jaime. He just feinted and needs stitches, prep the med bay." Conner said, going from a grumpy teenager to a professional soldier who knew exactly what he was doing. Ty was shocked by the transformation.

"Acknowledged, med bay will be ready for your arrival. Nightwing out." He shut the comm. and picked up Jaime and shouldered past Ty. He headed straight for Sphere, who was disguised as a black civilian car, and placed Jaime with care into the back seat. Ty grabbed his arm and attempted to pull him around to face him.

"Where the Hell are you taking him? You can't just take him away again." Ty said indignantly. He shook off Ty's hand and turned to face him.

"I'm taking him to the best medical doctor I know, and no you can't come with. It's against protocol." He said gruffly in a voice that broke no argument, he learned it from Black Canary and Batman. He stopped and gave Ty a slip of paper with his comm. number on it.

"Call that number if he isn't back in three days." He growled. He opened the driver side door, got in, and drove off leaving Ty standing by the side of the road, holding the slip of paper.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter ; 4 of Recoveries and Broken Memories

Jaime groaned as he resurfaced into consciousness. Ay, how his side hurt. He opened his eyes and saw that he was in the med bay, again, and that Nightwing and Conner's faces were hovering over him.

"Thank all higher powers in the universe you're ok." Nightwing breathed.

"What do you mean?" He croaked, his throat was parched and felt sticky.

"Well, the split in your side was worse than we thought, the muscle was pulled off of your ribs and it was causing internal bleeding and you were a little touch and go for a while, you-"

"You stopped breathing during surgery." Interjected Conner with a thick voice. Before turning and exiting the med bay.

"What was that about?" he asked.

"None of the original six of The Team handle the loss of a team mate very well, not since we died." Nightwing said quietly looking at the door that Conner had gone through.

"Conner said that he knew what it was to die, but he didn't tell me what happened. You seem to be a part of it, can I ask you what happened?" he asked quietly.

"No, the story is traumatizing and involves everyone in the original six. Once you have recovered, if you want to know what happened, go to Palo Alto, find Artemis Crock. Tell her that the red bird sent you, ask if you may use her memory sphere. If she says yes, once you have it come back here and I'll teach you how to use it." Nightwing instructed.

"Ok.' He murmured quietly. Nightwing placed a hand on his shoulder.

"I'll leave you to rest, get better soon." Nightwing said quietly and exited the med bay too, Jaime was left alone.

He closed his eyes and thought about what Nightwing had told him. Almost everyone on the original six of the team had a tragic and traumatic past and he was willing to tell him how to learn about them, he hoped that Artemis would let him use her memory sphere. He heard the med bay doors open again and heard Conner's footsteps approach his bed, Conner sat on the chair left there for visitors and just stared at him, eventually he began to speak. Jaime knew that his decision to pretend to be sleeping was a good one.

"Did you know that I'm only six years old? I'm a clone, force grown over the course of sixteen weeks to look like this. Most people assume that I am Superman's son but that I'm half human. Well I guess technically I am Superman's son but I don't have a mother and a father, I have two fathers, two donors of DNA. Superman is one the other is Lex Luther. That's right, I was created by the bad guys to be the weapon that finally brought the mighty Superman to his knees. There was another before me, his name was Match, his DNA was pure Kryptonian but the sequences had gaps. Those gaps coupled with the G-nomemorph brain washing made him completely uncontrollable, unstable, and violent. He was put into stasis and the scientists tried again, this time filling those gaps with human DNA, I was the result. I was created as a weapon, I wasn't supposed to have feeling or wants or needs. I was supposed to be a mindless drone that did only the bidding of the light." Conner told him all of this quietly in an attempt to not disturb him. When Conner finished Jaime opened his eyes and grabbed Conner's hand.

"I'm sorry mi hermano. None should ever have to be a weapon, tell me, what happened to Mach?" he asked with nothing but compassion in his eyes.

"The light still has him, they took him as soon as we defeated Vandal Savage and Klarion." Conner said softly looking down.

Jaime had no answer to that, he just tightened his hand around Conner's and they sat in silence for a long time.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter ; 5 Artemis

Jaime hesitated briefly before knocking on the door to the apartment that belonged to Artemis Crock and Wally West, two of the original six. He was about to tap his raised fist to the door when it swung open revealing a young woman with Asian heritage, golden hair, and steel grey eyes, he swallowed.

"Artemis Crock?" he asked.

"That depends on who sent you." She stated bluntly.

"The red bird sent me to ask about a memory sphere." He said quietly. She tilted her head, her eyes suddenly sad.

"Come inside, while I go and get it." She said softly. He walked through the door and sat on the edge of the couch while she disappeared down the hallway. When she returned she was holding a green ring box carefully in her hand. She sat on the couch and held it out to him and he gently took it. It was dark green with a light green arrow on the lid, he opened it and inside on a small velvet pillow rested a white sphere the size of a marble.

"I don't know why Nightwing wants to show these to you but I trust his judgment and believe that you should see them," she said softly closing her eyes in pain of the memories. He placed a hand on her shoulder.

"Thank you for sharing these memories with me, I will bring the sphere back to you as soon as I have seen them, it will be safe with me. You have my word." He said, nothing but respect and trust in his eyes. He stood and turned to leave when her voice stopped him.

"Wait, who are you? It can just be you hero name but I wish to know what you call you." She said.

"My name is Jaime, I'm Blue Beetle." He said. She stood.

"It was nice meeting you Jaime." She said holding out her hand to him, he took it.

"And it has been an honor meeting you." He said with respect, he left and she closed the door behind him.

Nightwing was waiting for him on the training pad when he exited the zeta tube back into the mountain, he stood in civvies with dark glasses in place of his domino mask.

"Did she give it to you?" Nightwing questioned. He nodded.

"Good, follow me." Nightwing motioned for him to follow as he moved off the training pad down the hallway. He followed him down the hallway to a room with an unmarked door.

"What room it this?" He asked.

"My room. It's sound proofed, I used to have night terrors, so no one will bother you." Nightwing told him as he opened the door and led him in.

He was expecting Nightwing's room to be some kind of military barrack, he wasn't expecting a almost normal looking room. The only things that would indicate that the room was abnormal were the bare rock for the walls and the half completed supercomputer on the desk.

"What's that for?" He asked, indicating the computer.

"Oh, it's for hacking the pentagon. Batman thinks that the government isn't being completely forthcoming with the information they have on Cadmus and The Light. So he's having me look into it." Nightwing answered easily as if it was a completely normal thing to be doing.

"Now, are you ready?" Nightwing asked. He nodded.

"Alright, sit and remove the sphere from the box." Nightwing instructed. He complied sitting on the bed and removed the small sphere from the green box.

"Ok, now, when you're ready. Touch the sphere to your forehead, right between your eye brows. I will warn you, what's in there in not pretty, we all did things we're not proud of. Also, it may feel like hours, but it will only be about fifteen minutes." Nightwing explained. He took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and touched the sphere to his forehead. A white light flooded his mind.


End file.
